What’s up, I’m dos Santos, and this is Ulven Reviews: movies and series from all over the world and all eras. Today let’s talk about the second season of the Norwegian Netflix series Ragnarok, released in 2021, created by Adam Price with the storyline by Emilie Lebech Kaae.
After the first season ending in a cliff-hanger, Magne (played by David Stakston) learns that the Ragnarok has started and has to find more gods to fight beside him against the Jotun.
Meanwhile, Turid (played by Henriette Steenstrup) tells Laurits (played by Jonas Strand Gravli) and Vidar (played by Gísli Örn Garðarsson) that they’re actually son and father (respectively).
And in the Jutul household, Saxa (played by Theresa Frostad Eggesbø) takes over the business while Vidar is connecting with his newly-found son and Fjor (played by Herman Tømmeraas) is playing house with Gry (played by Emma Bones).
I already reviewed Season 1, and I highly recommend that you watch that review first because some things I already talked about in the first review and my comment still applies to the second season of the series, so I won’t repeat myself here.
Season 2 of Ragnarok, and I like this second season more. Since there’s barely any scene at the school, we have a lot less of that teenager B.S. There is no popularity contest, not much of annoying romance, the new romances are quite compelling, actually.
So, some of the things I didn’t like so much in the first season are eliminated. So, after eliminating some things, there is space for other things. Things that I like more like the new gods that are introduced, and the relationship between Vidar and Laurits. Shit, I was almost liking the relationship between Gry and Fjor. There’s a lot to like, that’s for sure.
I would say this second season is a little tenser, a little more serious, but it has a lot of humorous moments, as well.
I like everything related to Laurits’ tapeworm, that is already not just some comic relief, but it’s a major part of the plot. And I think is going to become even more important in the third season, but I won’t talk so much about it, again, because of spoilers.
My point is: I like things that are there not only for the laughs but also because it has more meaning to it, and this tapeworm is a prime example of that.
I believe a lot of the improvements from one season to the other are because we’re not being introduced to the world anymore. Everything is a continuation of something we already know. We already know the main characters, the power dynamics, how the city functions, and so on. All the main details are known to the audience now, we can focus on the story, on the events.
And regarding the events, I think the series really nailed it. The story didn’t follow some cliches and some major events happen right mid-through the season. They are creative and really daring with the route they went with the series.
The ending of the season was not as exciting as the ending of the first season. It was not so much of a cliffhanger, it was more of a conclusion of a phase to begin another. There’s a lot more to come, we can see that. It was not a definitive ending, and I can say it really got me excited for the seasons to come. I’ll definitely keep watching it.
Now, let’s talk a bit about the characters.
Magne begins the season way better. He’s stronger, more confident, even his appearance is better, echoing his attitude, and he finally moved on from Gry. Now, he has a new love interest, Signy (played by Billie Barker), she was not very explored in this second season but, still, I think she has a lot of potential. I hope to see more of her in the seasons to come.
Back to Magne. Somewhere in the middle, he kind of gives up on everything. I hate when this type of thing happens. We have someone on a very clear path, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do, and then something happened, and he just gives up.
You know, in the Hero’s Journey the hero gets to a very low point in which he thinks everything is lost, but he doesn’t give up. He gets counseling from his mentor, gets up, and finds his path to ascension. You know what doesn’t happen?! Hero gives up, talks with the mentor, and the mentor says “Yeah, go fuck yourself! We’ll find someone else”. That was the part that annoyed me the most
There’s also a growing sexual tension between Magne and Saxa. I like it, but I don’t intend to talk about that today.
Saxa, who’s also a better character in this season, shining since the very beginning of it. She assumes a proactive role, leading the Jutul Industries. However, challenging the patriarchal structure of the Jotun, and annoying the family because of that.
She is leading while Vidar is spending some time with his newfound son. It’s a nice relationship between the two, as I already mentioned, and this dimension of Vidar made him a more likable character. However, we never know if his intentions are good or just opportunistic because Laurits is Magne’s brother, and his ambiguity works very, very well.
Laurits, by the way, has much more to do, has much more screen time this season. However, I don’t think I have much to add about him, I like him as much as I did in the first season, and his traits are the same. But with much more screentime, his participation in the plot and his story is much more explored, and I think that’s a good thing.
Opposite of Laurits, Fjor, and Gry has much less screen time, they are kinda sidelined, which I think kind of benefited them. Gry doesn’t have the time to annoy us and frustrate our protagonist. While Fjor is less stupid and less of a garbage person. I was beginning to like them, especially Fjor, but then he turned and became even worse than before.
We are introduced to some new gods: Iman (played by Danu Sunth), who represents Freyja, I believe. And Harry (played by Benjamin Helstad), who represents Tyr, if I’m not mistaken.
We already saw a little bit of Iman in the first season, and from the glances between her and Magne, we already could tell that she will have a more important role in the second season. However, I thought she would be his new romantic relationship. That’s not the case, she’s one of the goddesses to help him fight against the Jotun.
Harry is a completely new character, but not a completely new actor in this channel.
I already talked about Benjamin Helstad in another review (at least one another review I would have to check everything I already reviewed from Norway to be exact) but at least Borderline he is present, and has a very important role there.
Anyway, his role became more prominent in the last half of this season, in the beginning, he’s not very nice.
I like them both, and, like with Signy, I think these two have a lot of potential in the upcoming seasons.
That’s mostly all I have to say because things like acting cinematography score, and so on I already talked about in the first review and the quality remains the same. I think the special effects might have improved a little bit, but I’m not sure, I will have to check the first season again to be sure.
Ragnarok Season 2 was a very nice experience once again i like it slightly more than the first season it’s more focused more mature and more engaging without losing the adventurous mood of the first one i’ll give Ragnarok Season 2 8 Moons!
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Thanks for watching see you in the next video.
Dos Ratos 